PAW Escape - Team C
by Yonic
Summary: Life is simply not fair: Nine puppies were kidnapped by an unknown person known as 'Y', and have been forced by them to play a death game that will never end until, at least, six of them die. Follow the misadventures of the 3 puppies from Team C: Chase, Rubble, and Everest here! An AU fic rated M for violence, and gore.
1. Dispersion

Author's Notes (reading very recommended):

 **This fanfic is divided in three parts, each one having a different perspective and featuring different characters.**

 **Team M:** Marshall, Skye and Tracker.

 **Team R:** Rocky, Zuma, and Robo-Dog.

 **Team C:** Chase, Rubble, and Everest.

In all of these three parts, the POV will be the narrator's.

These story _'parts'_ will occur simultaneously in the story. This means that _Chapter 1 of Team C_ will happen at the same time as _Chapter 1 of Team R_ and _Chapter 1 of Team M_ ; the same applies with Chapter 2, and so on. **Currently, you are in the Team C part of the story.**

This also means that the chapters that feature two or three of the Teams will appear on their respective parts. This very first chapter features all three of them, so it will be on the three parts. However, there will be differences on each part depending on the part you're on. These differences can range from just one word, to entire paragraphs, **so it is recommended to read all of the parts despite having repeated chapters.**

In this AU fanfic none of the characters know each other, except for Marshall and Skye, who happen to be childhood friends. Rubble and Tracker also are acquaintances, but nothing more than that.

Since this fic was written before Tracker officially debuted on the TV Series, his personality and traits might be a bit off, although I guess it's going to be okay since most of the characters' personalities will be very different.

 _Disclaimers: Story based on the Zero Escape game series. Cast based from PAW Patrol. Both of which I do not own._

* * *

 **[C] DISPERSION [1]**

It was too dark to see anything clearly, but it could be assumed that this was quite a small room, with a large barred door from which a light from a lamp could be seen.

The floor felt very cold and uncomfortable, like if it was made from pure, cold iron. Inside this very small room, three dog puppies were inside, two of them which were asleep.

The only one who was awake just woke up a minute ago. He was a German Shepherd, with honey colored eyes, and fur coloration that makes one remember of a chocolate and cookie sweet. The dog did a quick search to the room. He seemed to be trapped in this metallic room, judging by the grate that separated this room to a circular room, connecting another two rooms that seemed to be like prison cells, and a dark, long hallway.

The two dogs who were asleep were most likely a cookie creamed colored bulldog and a lavender colored Husky. The bulldog's snort was what made the Shepherd wake up. They didn't seem like they would wake up soon.

His pointy ears noticed a grunt noise coming from outside, making him take a look.

Upon close inspection, it seemed that two of the dogs from the left have just waken up. He could easily identify the race of the one with brown fur – a Labrador, but that was another story with the grey dog with orange eyes and a darker fur patch on his left eye. That dog seemed to be a mutt.

"Come ooooon...!" The Labrador was grunting while trying to pry open a hole so he could escape from where they were kept in, panting in exhaustion after stopping for a while. The Shepherd could see his greenish yellow eyes open for some seconds before trying to open it again. Just then the German Shepherd noticed his rather strange accent. "Just a little mowe!"

The dog that was sitting alongside the brown dog, looking down, gave a long sigh. "It won't work." Rolling his sunset colored eyes, he explained. "This is reinforced steel I presume. It won't budge that easily."

The Shepherd tilted his head in confusion when the mutt mentioned that inside that cell, a rather special entity accompanied both dogs. "I don't even think that robot can help us."

The German Shepherd thought that was a bit strange. He thought of that for a few seconds what could that robot be. He presumed it to be a dog due to the circumstances he is currently in.

Whatever the case, he showed his face to the puppies that were to his left. Both seemed quite startled by his presence.

"Just how many pups awe thewe?" Asked the chocolate Labrador.

"From the looks of it, nine pups in total" The German answered his question. "Three in my cell, three in your cell, and I presume there are other three in that one."

Gazing at the right prison cell, a black and white spotty dog, also known as a Dalmatian, suddenly appeared from behind the bars, staring curiously at the Labrador with his icy blue eyes.

"Uh, what's wrong with your voice?" That's what the pup said from his seemingly higher in pitch than normal for a male dog voice "And yes, we are nine in total."

The Labrador bit his lip. "Well… I kinda have a speech impediment, so..." The mutt quickly responded, interrupting him. "Rhoticism, right? It's when you can't pronounce the R sound. Most of the times it sounds like if it were to be an W sound." The chocolate dog did nothing but speechlessly nod to him, with a surprised look.

There was a bit of silence, which gave enough time for the Shepherd to take a look behind and see that his roommates were already awake. The bulldog was grunting, wondering what was going on, and the Husky had a rather sad look, being a little homesick and quite afraid, despite her confident look.

A Cockapoo from the same cell as the Dalmatian appeared and broke the silence with a sentence quite familiar to the Husky's ears. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves, so we can know a bit about each other..." She put one of her paws to her chest, in a way of introducing herself. "My name is Skye. What are your names?"

One by one, the identities of each of the pups were revealed, apart from the ones from the room where Marshall, Skye and Tracker were.

The German Shepherd's name was Chase, and his roommates were the buff yet young bulldog named Rubble and the lavender Husky named Everest. She had quite a cold look in her deep blue eyes.

The Dalmatian was named Marshall, and the third dog that was held captive on the same cell as him and Skye was named Tracker. He was a Chihuahua which seemed to be Mexican, apparently he could speak both English and Spanish.

Finally, the grey mutt introduced himself as Rocky, and the chocolate Labrador as Zuma. However, it seemed like the robot dog -which confirmed Chase's previous suspicions- wouldn't answer.

"What about you, wobot dog?" Zuma decided to ask the robot himself. "What's youw name?"

The robot made a beeping sound that could be heard from Marshall's room, which sounded to be like if it were to be 'processing' what he heard. In a matter of two seconds, some sounds could be heard from his bark. "Robo-Dog", he said. "Call me Robo, please."

There was a bit of an unsettling silence for a while, which made it easier for every pup to hear the footsteps coming from a hallway that connected to the prison vault. They seemed like footsteps from a human. "Oh, oh! Are we going to get rescued?" said Skye with a joyful smile.

However, the human's voice destroyed that positive thought. "Unfortunately, that's the wrong answer. Actually, I'm your enemy."

The bulldog, who had been silent all this time, spoke with a loud and low bark. "Who the hell are you?!"

It was hard to tell the gender of the human because they were wearing a dark robe with a theater 'laughter' mask. After hearing their voice, Chase got the suspicion that his voice had been distorted in order to keep the gender hidden.

"You may call me Y. And I'll be your host of The Game." All of the pups were very confused. What did they mean?

Only Chase was brave enough to speak. "What game?", he replied in a very serious tone. The masked human took a few seconds governed by silence to answer. He then showed a coin that was hidden under his sleeve.

"Twenty-three days ago, a man was killed. As a result, a dog was falsely convicted to the murder and consequently sacrificed, his lawyer would later kill herself after realizing her mistake. A taxi driver had an accident along with his passenger, a vet surgeon. The puppy who awaited a critical operation also perished. The vet, due to his negligence, started a fire at his apartment, killing five people, including himself. Why did these nine people die? Because of a puppy. A single solitary puppy caused the deaths of nine people. Life is simply unfair; don't you think?"

Everyone was speechless. Nothing that the masked person just pouted out made any sense. Almost everyone who were close to the door tilt their heads in deep confusion. Chase tried to quickly analyze what he just told, but he couldn't grasp it completely before Y spoke up again.

"Today, the truth of these unfortunate events will be revealed, justice will finally be made, and the future will be decided. All of this will happen in The Game."

Despite Y's declaration, the pups still didn't understand what was going on, or what they've just heard, not even Chase. However, one thing was clear to them: They were going to play a game with the person who kidnapped them, and it would start very soon. Plus, the Shepherd wondered about the relationships between the events he could memorize and The Game.

"I'll explain the rules of The Game now." The masked man announced as he showcased the white coin to everyone who was looking. The only ones who didn't see the coin were Robo and Everest; they weren't looking at the perpetrator, who after a few seconds proceeded to throw the coin.

The metal coin spun fast in the air, causing it to reveal its two sides. One was the white side that every pup could see. The other, which remained unknown to them, was black. With such spinning, it seemed like both colors were overlaying each other, forming a dark shade of gray. Black and white, imposing each other on each side, like light and darkness, but like a yin-yang, their destiny depended on each other.

Nevertheless, after the edge of the coin hit the floor, bouncing just one time, the man in black stepped on top of the spinning coin to stop it, hiding it under his foot.

"It is not possible to know which side was up and which one was down. But you can take a guess – in fact, you must take a guess." Said the evil human. "If you guess right, you will win the game and I will set you free."

That was very confusing, but very comforting. Marshall and Skye sighed of relief.

However, Chase thought he could be lying. "Are you serious you'll make me believe that?" He lowly growled.

Y looked at Chase, the latter startled a bit. It was impossible to figure out the emotion behind Y's look, as it was completely hidden by the mask. The mask made them seem to be lifeless, emotionless, hopeless.

"You would sleep for twenty-three minutes and twenty-four seconds. After that, you would wake up back at the lookout in Adventure Bay as if nothing happened."

That was a very specific statement. Chase still had his doubts, but he was interrupted by Rocky when he was about to ask. "So what if we guess wrong? What if we lose?"

There was a short silence, but Y gave an emotionless response. "The game will not end until at least six of you die."

Everyone except Robo and Chase gasped. Marshall bit his lower lip very hard, while Rocky and Skye had a very shocked expression on their eyes. Chase, being brave, maintained his serious look, whilst Robo's look was still lifeless. The masked man called Y opened his arms wide open. Chase thought he saw something inside the sleeve where the kidnapper didn't hide the coin, but he stopped thinking about it when the dark figure asked:

"So, what it will be? Will it be white? Or black?"

* * *

The pups started arguing. Zuma, Marshall and Rubble took a wild guess right away and said their preferred option: "It's black!", "No, it's going to be white!", "It'll be white!"

Rocky, Skye and Tracker said that it was very risky, that there was a 50% chance of guessing right. Chase, Everest and Robo merely didn't say anything.

Y stopped the argument, taking the attention again, by yelling the name of a certain dog.

"Chase. What's it going to be?" Y asked. "You will choose for the entire team. You have to."

Chase sat down, startled. He wondered why did he have to decide, instead of choosing by majority. He could hear Marshall yelling at him "Choose white!", as well as Zuma's voice yelling "Choose black!". All of the pups started quarreling again, which didn't make the situation better.

The Shepherd started looking frenetically at all dogs, his fur becoming wet from the crazy amounts of sweat, and his heart racing so strong that he thought for a second that it was going to overload and stop. He looked rapidly at both trios from the other sides.

What he should do? Black, or white? Whatever he chose, it was a fifty-fifty situation, each color would have the same chances of being the one on top. White, or black? Light, or dark side?

After thinking for a while, he thought of both colors. So opposite, yet they seem to tag along perfectly. But one color seemed to be purer, more hopeful, more... Likely to bring happiness to all pups.

Chase finally had found an answer.

"...White."

The pups stopped quarreling, now deeply looking at him. He felt like thousands of eyes were directly gazing at him. Marshall didn't quite hear his answer: "Sorry, what?" He asked.

"...It's going to be white!" Chase yelled with determination and authority. He started clenching his teeth. It was his final answer.

All of the pups now gazed at Y's foot. What they felt in a matter of seconds, which felt like minutes, were huge waves of pure fear and tension, despairingly hoping for the white side of the coin to be up. Their hearts were racing like they had never experienced. They were sweating heavily. Except for Robo, who was just emitting some smoke, apparently his body temperature was rising heavily.

There was just a fifty percent chance that the shiny, light white side of the coin would be up. At first it seemed like a very high chance of that they would guess it right. However, now that Chase gave an answer, that number seemed to be very small. It seemed like it would be more likely that the cold and dark black side of the coin would be up. Despite that, Chase still believed the odds were 1:1. It was very likely they would win.

Every pup in the metallic cell rooms felt like their heart skipped a beat when the foot of the dark man started revealing the coin…

The side that was up... was, indeed, black.

It seemed like time returned back to normal. Rocky, Zuma and Tracker gave out a huge gasp, with shocked eyes. Marshall had a somewhat grossed-out kind of look, like he couldn't accept what happened. Rubble and Skye deeply stared at Chase, with a very angered expression. The German Shepherd looked down, with a very guilty expression. Everest looked sad after hearing the dogs' reaction. Robo started beeping, like he was yelping in shock.

"Damn you, Chase!" The bulldog Rubble cursed the Shepherd, hitting his back paws on the floor.

"Don't blame him!" Rocky objected to Rubble. "There was a 50% of chance of getting it right. We were just… Unlucky."

Silence, again, apart from the constant beeps of Robo. Rubble, annoyed, let out a huge roar. "Tell that iron dog to shut the fuck up!"

The beeps were gone. One second after that, Y finally spoke again.

"You have lost the coin toss. Therefore, The Game will continue until at least six of you are dead." The masked man revealed from the sleeve where the coin was not hidden in, a remote with a yellow button. Chase _did_ expect he had something hiding there. "Now, it is time for you to sleep. When next you wake, I will keep explaining the rules of The Game."

Marshall extended one paw, passing through the metallic gate, but it was way too short to reach the masked man's legs. Despite that, he yelled. "W-wait! This can't be over ye-"

A click could be heard. That evil masked man pushed the yellow button. Half a second after that, he mentioned his last words before turning back, heading straight to the dark hallway.

"Sleep well, pups."

Hissing sounds came from above the center of the room. It looked like it was coming from a circular hole that no puppy had noticed before, at the ceiling of the circular center room.

Suddenly, Chase, Rubble and Everest started feeling tired. Their legs shook, feeling weak. "Sleeping... Gas...?" mentioned Chase.

"Is there... Such a thing...?" Exhausted, Everest seemed like she wouldn't last long. "We have to... Resist..." But she couldn't, and fell asleep.

Chase's eyelids started to close, but he had enough strength to hold them open for quite a bunch of time. He was still looking down.

Rubble was right: By choosing incorrectly, by just bad luck, he had sentenced at least six of the prisoner dogs to death. There was a probability of two in three that he could be among the casualties, _at best_. There could be more. At worst, _everyone_ would die.

"Fuck... Must... Not... Sleep...!" The bulldog eventually stopped grunting, apparently he had succumbed to slumber.  
Subsequently, the Labrador followed, stretching one of his paws, trying to reach Y even though he was already gone. "D-damn you, Y..." Those were his last words before falling asleep.

When Chase eventually looked back to the other rooms, it seemed like everyone had already fallen asleep. He was the only one awake.  
He collapsed to the floor, with his paws no longer being strong enough to handle the body weight. Then the Shephard had an idea.

"R... Ro... bo...!" He yelled with all of his remaining strength, hoping that the robot would have not been affected by the sleeping gas.

But there was no answer from the robot. When he was about to enter to the world of dreams, a though came to his mind.

Why did he thought... That the coin would... _Indeed_... Display black?


	2. Inscription

Author's Note:

Chapters 2 and 3 will be updated according to this order:

 **Team M - Team R - Team C**

This chapter is a bit shorter than the other teams' Chapter 2, but we'll get into some shocking action very soon.

* * *

 **[C] INSCRIPTION [2]**

A short but very loud creak resonated in the room, reaching the German Shepherd's ears as if a thunder struck on his side. He quickly woke up, very startled.

"Whoa... What?" He had a very firm posture, looking at the source of the sound. It seemed that it came from the ceiling. A very bright halogen light was shining directly at his eyes, which made him squeeze them.

The puppy was sitting alone, at a small, metallic framed bed, like those used at certain public locations. It wasn't very comfy. He looked around the room with white tiling covering the walls, gazing the sink not very far away, and a small seat close to what seemed to be some sort of sink and a couple of mirrors. At his left was a much more comfy-looking seat, with a very large array of lights that seemed to be like the commonly used lamps for operating. He also gazed a mirror close to a desk in front of him. There was also a computer screen of some sort on the desk, but the computer itself was nowhere to be found. There was also an iron door with a small window to his right. In conclusion, this seemed like a dentist room, which didn't seem to be of Chase's liking. Apart from that, he didn't get to see any of the other pups anywhere in that room.

"Where are the rest?" He got up from the bed, and tried to open the door. However, it was locked. "Darn, I'm stuck here... Wherever this is!"

As if a motion sensor was placed behind it, by just moving the knob of the door, the screen powered on.

"It appears you have awaken." Said Y, with the same screeching, distorted voice as before. "Time to explain the rules to you."

"Y..." Grumbled Chase.

The perpetrator mentioned they had to make some things clear before explaining the rules. "Asking questions to me will be worth nothing but a waste of time. This is a recording, being broadcasted to all of the dogs within this facility."

Now that the kidnapper clarified that first thing, they announced that they would detail a fragment of the story that the puppies heard back at the prison cells.

"July 19th, 2013, it was a rainy day. A man was getting home from work. His usual route led him to a fork in the road within a park. Normally, he'd go through the left path, but for some reason, he chose the right path that day. Along the way, he bumped into a woman who happened to be a coworker.  
Surprised to see him, she asked: 'Why did you come this way today'?  
The man showed her what was hiding under his coat. It was a small puppy, with bloody stains from gunshot wounds. It was clear the puppy was in peril, so he decided to head towards the closest vet in the neighborhood."

 _"This story again..."_ Chase remembered the full story, about the catastrophic chain of events that were caused by a single pup. "But then, that puppy wouldn't have done anything wrong...!"

The voice of Y grew deeper and resonated the following words. "His body was found two hours and four minutes later. Murdered. They found him behind some bushes along the right path of the park. Sometimes, life is simply unfair..."

However, to Chase, it didn't sound particularly shocking. Instead, he wondered what happened to the wounded dog.

The kidnapper continued their explanations. "It's the same for all of you puppies. The pull of an unjust fate carried you along to this precise moment. Only to find yourselves in this underground facility, 30 meters below ground..."

The screen showed up a complex map with many rooms intricately networked by what looked like meandering hallways. It was so distorted in shape that it felt like a ruined spider web lair of some sort.

* * *

"As you can probably see from where you are, you have been divided into three groups of three dogs each." Y explained that the groups were distributed as follows:

Marshall, Skye and Tracker were the now named **Team M**. The leader of the group would be Marshall, as hinted by the initial of the team. The team was given red-colored bracelets.

Rocky, Zuma and Robo were **Team R** , with Rocky being the leader. Team R was given green-colored bracelets.

Finally, Chase, Rubble and Everest had been associated the name **Team C**. The color of the bracelets from this team was blue.

"Bracelets?" The Shepherd dog just noticed what looked like a clock display strapped to his left paw with a blue, metallic wristband. He tried pulling it off, but it was too tight to move at all.

"Speaking of the bracelets, there are some important things to mention about them. As of now, each of everyone's bracelets is inactive. You will need to activate them by using a circle scanner that can be found near your TV screen. Simply pass your paws over the reader to enable their functions. This is very important for The Game to happen."

The screen switched again, showing a schematic of a bracelet similar to those Team C wear, but yellow-colored. The puppy looked at the sides of the display, when he noticed two buttons on their sides. Chase also noticed four cylindrical extrusions under the display.

"Once activated, you can press the two buttons on its sides simultaneously for an arrow to be displayed. This arrow will serve you as a guide to where you will have to go next. Consider it as a compass."

Chase looked around at the room again, with no luck finding said activation device.

"The bracelets are absolutely necessary to enter the Numbered Doors. As of now, you probably haven't seen any. They just look like any regular door, but they present a colored number splattered on them. Near these doors, you will find the devices called Bracelet Authentication Devices, or BREAD, for short. You must scan your paws over these devices in order to activate the X-Paws Input Device beside the BREAD. The Numbered Door will not open unless you enter the same amount of X-Pawsses as the number painted on the door."

"BREAD? Pawsses? What kind of puns are those?" Grumbled the dog watching at the screen.

However, the voice of the masked man suddenly turned even darker after the next sentence.

"Each time one of you puppies is unable to continue the Game, the bracelet will automatically disengage and an X-Pawss will be revealed. In blunter terms, there will be an X-Pawss for each dead puppy."

His indifferent look switched to an angrier one, clenching his teeth with such strength it could hurt him, growling with about half of his full strength.

"It is hidden, but an exit can be found. Seek a way out... Seek a door that carries a [6]. This obviously means that, at least, six of you must die in order to open the door that connects to the exit of this facility."

"Damn you, Y. Six of us have to die if we want to open that damned exit?" Uttered the dog who was watching the screen.

"There's a few things to mention about their interaction with the bracelets, as well. Each Numbered Door will only remain open for 24 seconds. Once that time passed, the Numbered Doors will automatically close. By then, any puppy that did not authenticate on the BREAD, but managed to pass through it, the injectors hidden within their bracelet will automatically trigger. The trespasser will be penalized by an injection of an aqueous solution of mercuric chloride. Once that happens, the digestive tract will collapse due to the poison, killing you in about 23 minutes."

Trying to understand that rule, he deduced that some conditions must follow in order to open the doors. Whoever doesn't apply for them, will get killed if they trespass.

"Also, don't expect the Numbered Doors from opening again. Once they close, they will remain locked until those who have last opened the door authenticate in the Door Unlocking Device, or DUD. Only then the rest will be able to open said door."

Chase tried his best in getting to understand that rule, but he didn't get the point of it.

"I believe that concludes the rules explanations. Remember that I can't answer your questions."

However, despite Y having explained the rules, he added one more last thing to his explanations:

"Sometimes, you will encounter different challenges. Only fate will only decide whether if you overcome it... Or not. With that... I wish you... Good luck."

"Goddamn you!" shouted the Shepherd dog, kicking the screen. Hopefully, the screen remained intact, because the message kept running for some reason.

"Chase, I have a special message specifically dedicated to you." Y was now directing his words to him.

The puppy sat down on the bed again, a little bit surprised, listening carefully.

"You have... A very special power. A hidden ability. If you manage to control it, that power will serve you very well in the near future. Let's hope you reach a happy destiny. Have a nice escape."

With that goodbye, the screen turned off, and the door automatically unlocked. He stood there for a while, deeply thinking.

 _"A special power...? What is Y talking about...? Is it the reason why I'm convicted in this hell of a game? How... How good can it serve to me, that power? Or will it convey something awful? I don't think he's lying, but... I know he's hiding something."_

The dog then proceeded to leave the room via the door that was just unlocked.

* * *

"Chase!" a somewhat familiar female, husky voice could be heard from the narrow hallway. The Shepherd's right ear caught most of the noise, leading his head towards that direction.

A lavender husky, followed by a beefy cookie bulldog. "It's good to see you here, too..."

"You were separated, just like me, eh?" The bulldog that was still approaching the pair, asked that question, who nodded when he arrived.

"Where are we...?" asked Chase, looking at the ceramic white tiled walls of the hallway. "This is much different from the prison we were in..."

"This isn't as eerie as a hospital. But it still gives me the creeps..." The sad look from Everest was gone. Instead, she seemed more energetic. "It must be a clinic or something..."

"But this is way too big for just a clinic or a vet." Argued Rubble, with his blunt language. "Plus, I just woke up on an operating table! I thought I was dreaming I was going to get fucking operated! Jeez!"

"A small hospital it is, then..." Chase concluded, while gazing at a suspiciously looking circular device looking thingy screwed at the middle of the hallway. "Hey, is that the activation device?"

The pups approached it, with a very curious glare on their eyes. "It doesn't look like a nice ornament to me." Commented Everest, putting her paw on the device. A digtal beep could be heard, coming from her blue bracelet. "Oh, I think it turned on!" An arrow that was pointing to the right appeared on her display.

"So we have to go to the right end of the hallway, hmm." Said Chase, putting his paw on the device as well, without taking care of putting it on top of Everest's.

"Ah, wait Chase." The husky lifted her paw, showing a very faint blush. "Sorry."

Upon placing on the activation device, an arrow pointing to the same direction as the lavender dog appeared on the Shepherd's bracelet. The same happened to Rubble's.

"Okay, now that we all have our bracelets on, let's go follow the arrow!" the happy husky sprinted towards the hallway, followed suit by the chocolate-caramel Shepherd dog and the cookie bulldog. The latter took advantage of the distance between them and the male pair to say something.

"Isn't Everest a bit different from the time before we fell to sleep?"

Chase looked at her, following the seemingly very long and meandering hallway of ceramic tiles. There were a few doors here and there, but they looked like locked shut. "Yeah... She wasn't this enthusiastic before. She looked very cold and sad... I wonder why."

The bulldog decided to pull a prank on him. "You care for that babe eh? You hot stuff." The Shepherd dog merely threw an 'are you kidding me' face. He had to admit, though, that husky was worth looking.

Both didn't seem like they were paying attention to the road, because they bumped straight into Everest, who stopped upon gazing something near the end of the hallway. Because of this, the three of them were now laying down on the floor, like if someone were to score a strike on bowling.

"There's the door..." said the snowy dog, getting up. "A numbered door."

A double, grayish green door was present on front of them. It didn't look like any of the other doors they had seen or because it seemed like an elevator door. Not because of its size, but rather because of the sign that was painted on it.

A blue [0]. According to the rules, that would mean that zero X-Pawsses would be required to open the door.

"How generous, this stupid Y... Nobody has to die now..." Said Rubble.

"Wait, let me check the bracelet for a second." Replied Everest, with a now very serious look. She clearly wasn't the same as the one girl they just saw moments ago. A click could be heard as the girl pup put her paw on the right button. "Just as I thought. No X-Pawsses are shown on the bracelet."

"Come on, Everest. Nobody can be dead at the first five minutes of the game." Rubble was looking at her wrist watch device. On the screen there was a "NO CASUALTIES" displayed.

"I was checking, just in case..."

Anyways, Chase took a gaze at the device that was beside the arrow buttons on the elevator. There was a round machine, with some sort of navy styled decorations. There was a bread ornament on top of it, as well.

"So he really took the puns seriously." Said the Shepherd dog as he placed his paw on the machine. A short electronic sound could be heard. Then, a panel suddenly appeared where a keyboard fitted for the size of a pup's paw appeared below the arrow buttons and the BREAD.

"Wait, is this for entering the X-Pawsses?" Asked Everest, biting her lip with a slightly shocked glance. "But this door doesn't require any... Right?

"Good question." Replied Chase, placing a paw at the Enter key. "I'll leave it blank... Place your paws on the BREAD, or you won't be able to come along."

Obeying like if he was their master, the two pups who hadn't authenticated put their paws on the device to do so. Immediately after, the chocolate-praline dog pressed the Enter key.

The arrow pointing upwards lit up, meaning that the elevator was running and it was going up. A bell rang, pointing out the elevator arrived to its destination. The [0] door subsequently opened, and the pups entered the cabin.

It was big enough so that at least four or five pups could go in, so there was plenty of space to be a little comfortable. There was a small screen on it, reading out "-15m / Hospital"

"That's where we are... Right?" said Rubble, while also checking the buttons of the gray metallic elevator. "Damn you Y. You have to make us use an elevator that goes up, can't you...?"

Indeed, there were only three buttons, followed by a tag to their left. The top one said "-15m / Hospital", the middle one said "-30m / Machinery section A", however, it was destroyed. The bottom one said "-45m / Maintenance section B". This meant that they could only go down, so Chase pushed the button, making the elevator cabin slowly move down.

On the other side of the wall, there was a circular, white device, with another bread decorative figurine at the top.

"Wait, this doesn't look like the BREAD..." pointed out the bulldog. "Is it the DUD?"

Everest followed suit. "What are we waiting for, then? If we don't authenticate, we won't be able to go up!" She was right, since according to the rules, the door wouldn't open until those who passed that door placed their paws on the DUD.

"So that's what Y was trying to tell us with that rule, eh..." Deduced Chase. "We will have to backtrack at some point of the game."

With a nod, the three pups place their left paw on the device, making an electronic chime sound. However, the pups didn't get to see that under their paws, a countdown from 32 was being displayed. However, upon confirming the presence of the three dogs, it went down.

* * *

When the elevator doors opened, the scenery that was before the puppies' eyes had changed considerably. The hallway was a little wider than the hospital's, but the walls were now metallic panels attached to each other by rounded bolts. The ceiling had some pipes from varying colors and sizes present. There was a rather humid smell in the air, too.

When the doors of the elevator closed shut, since they were different from the one in the hospital section, the blue [0] was gone.

The puppies decided to take a look around at the new, Maintenance area. There was a bifurcation just in front of the elevator, but the way going forward was blocked by a wall of white metallic bars. It was futile to make an opening wide enough for the pups to go in. Chase also spotted a smaller grate on the upper part of the wall to the left of the blocking wall. He supposed it'd be connected to the ventilation network. He tried reaching it, but it was way too high.

Rubble checked his bracelet, pressing the two buttons at its sides at the same time. An arrow pointing left appeared on the display. "We have to go left, pups."

"Yeah, let's go." Said Everest, a little cheered up. The three puppies followed the much more meandering hallways of the Maintenance section. It felt like it'd take forever to reach their destination, so they decided to have a short talk to kill time.

Chase immediately brought up the story that Y talked about. "Hey... What do you think of Y's story? Do you think is it real?"

There was a short silence, but the bulldog spoke up. "I guess... If it wasn't true, I don't see the point why that fucked up man locked us up."

"Do you think that story is the kidnapper's motive?" uttered the husky, with not a happy look, but rather a serious one.

"What else could it be, then?" Rubble's patience was very short, but he hadn't still lost his temper. "It has to be something that all nine pups could be involved in."

"...I don't want to accept that I was involved in such story." Everest replied, whimpering. "It makes me feel guilty."

"Everest... Is that why you have mood swings?" Chase spoke for the first time in that conversation.

"Mood swings? I don't think it's that..." Explained the girl pup. "Normally I can fight this kind of situations... I want to think myself I'm a firm and strong dog. But sometimes, when this happens..."

They were still moving. The corridors started to feel endless. "I want to have a stronger mind. I want to stop being so sensitive, like any other female pups." Chase blushed to Everest's last statement. That was one of the types of dogs he liked the most. Rocky threw an "I told ya" glare at him.

However, the pace suddenly stopped when the hallway met a corner, with a rusty door and a small glass window at its right on it. There was a plaque on the door, reading out "SECTION B". However, it was locked. The dogs saw a card reader on the side, meaning they needed a magnetic card in order to open the door.

"This isn't going to be easy..." said Chase, taking a look at his bracelet. The arrow that appeared upon pressing the lateral buttons wasn't pointing towards the door, so they moved along the meandering path.

As they continued the seemingly endless path, Team C kept talking.

"Do you think Y could be someone who is close to one of us?" Suggested Everest. "Maybe even an owner."

Long silence. Again, Rubble break the silence with a short sentence. "What makes you think that?"

"Y could be the owner of the dog that got shot. The one that apparently started everything. That person could probably want to take revenge on us...?"

"That's can't be, Everest." Objected Rubble. "Remember? The game won't end until at least six of us die. Doesn't sound like they are going for specific pups."

"We can't confirm his identity without knowing anything about that person." Commented Chase. "Their motives could help us a bit, but without information, we would only be shooting in the dark."

The three pups stopped again. However, this time it was a dead end. A black door with the plaque "EMERGENCY DISPOSAL CHAMBER" read out. When the bulldog placed a paw onto the door, he swiped down some of the blackness that covered the door, making a lighter gray mark on the door. "Eww!" He checked his dirty paw, now in a coal black color.

"Wait... That seems to look like... Fumes dust?" Said Chase. "It looks like something was burning on that room..." It didn't look good for the three pups.

"Oh man... Maybe going there is way too dangerous." Mentioned Rubble.

Everest checked her bracelet, and pressed the lateral buttons, showing the arrow yet again, pointing towards the door coated with black powder. "Well, we have no choice, guys... We have to go in there..."

The cookie colored bulldog released a sigh from his lips, while Chase moved his head up and down in a nod gesture. He proceeded to open the door, while some of the black powder fell to the team's faces. Due to the intrusion, the three heavily coughed, trying to breathe. Until they were able to open their eyes, even though their vision was blurry, they were able to gaze the room they were going to enter...

* * *

 **STATUS  
** (According to Team C's perspective)

 **Team M:  
** Marshall (?), Skye (?), Tracker (?)

 **Team R:  
** Rocky (?), Zuma (?), Robo (?)

 **Team C:  
** Chase (ALIVE), Rubble (ALIVE), Everest (ALIVE)


	3. Air

Author's Notes:

This Chapter 3 will involve the first Death Minigames! Will the pups survive the challenges?

I've finally got some time to update Team C's side of the story. This time, the minigame will be completely original, although I got inspiration from 999 and Virtue's Last Reward on this one, too. I got super stuck on this part, which explains the very, very long delay. Also, it turns out that I'm having much less free time than I originally expected. That's why this chapter is shorter than the other ones, but I added a part that's a bit harder to read and understand, so it should take you the same time as the other ones. Maybe in the future I'll make it a little bit longer.

* * *

 **[C] AIR [3]**

A large, circular room awaited before the three pups. As their vision started to sharpen and become clearer, the room started to gain details that they could contemplate at.

However, there wasn't much to look at, as most of the room was covered entirely by seemingly five large hills of a black powder. The rancid, yet burnt smell was asphyxiating for the dogs' respiratory system, but they tried as much as they could to adapt to its smell and the scarce fresh air.

"Augh" coughed the cappuccino Shepherd "This smell... The heat..."

The bulldog seemed a bit tense, a trait that didn't appear to be shown on his voice. "This is an exhaustion room..."

"What...?" replied the exhausted Husky with a question. "What's that...?"

"A room specifically built for storing gases and leftovers from an incineration process..." answered Chase, while looking at the now clear steel plate of the door "This one seems to be used for emergency purposes only... Argh!"

The three shocked puppies turned over at the sudden slamming sound coming from the door that Chase was examining, which seemed to have harshly closed shut. An electronic beep and later a locking sound followed.

"Crap! Don't tell me we're...!" Rubble grunted as hard as he could while trying to twist the knob of the door. "Damnit! We're trapped!"

A short chime resonated soon after around the entire room, followed by a seemingly female human voice.

"Incineration process has been terminated. The exhaustion valves will open now. Current carbon dioxide concentration: 23%"

"What's going on...?" Asked the Husky before yelling after being scared by the sudden hissing noise coming from above "What's that over there...?"

"I suppose it must be pumping out the excess carbon dioxide used to put out the flames after an incineration process..." explained Chase.

"Then we ought to find a way to pump it back out!" exclaimed the creamy spotty dog. "Otherwise, we'll exhaust from not having enough oxygen."

"But how do we do that? There's just tons and tons of black powder hills here..." It seemed like the only female of the trio got used to the harsh air.

The chestnut brown dog made a quick look around the walls that were upon a leg's range of him, and noticed a small box that bolted close to the metallic, dirty floor. It had a distinctive look that reminded him of the card reader that they saw a quarter of an hour ago, back at the closed door with -SECTION B- engraved on a plaque "This... Is a card reader. Maybe it has the same purpose as the one we saw before."

Looking at the connections via wires of that same card reader, a somewhat subtle indentation was visible to the Shepherd's eyes when the other end of the wire seemed to abruptly end at what seemed to be a hidden panel. "The ventilation controls must be behind that metal pane. We have to find that card if we want to open this up!"

After a simultaneous agreement between the three puppies, the search for the keycard began.

Rubble was known to be a very fast digger. As soon as he got to the closest pile of ashes, the bulldog started moving his front paws to remove as much ash as possible. "What are the chances we'll find it here, though?"

Chase was looking for the keycard on the furthest pile from the door they came in. He couldn't dig as fast as Rubble, but his strong constitution allowed him to dig at a higher speed than average, although he sometimes stopped to have a couple of breaths, as the oxygen concentration started to get more and more scarce.

Everest, on the other hand, despite being a female, her front paws were firm and strong, a very common trait for a snow pup like a Husky, getting, at times, at the same speed as Chase's. In the end, she was the one who got the quickest to reach the floor since she got the smallest pile. "There's a writing in here!"

The German Shepherd pup stopped when he heard about that message, and ran towards where that voice came from. A couple of strange symbols were depicted on the now uncovered floor.

"It looks like a plus, a minus, another plus and another minus." Said Chase, trying to identify the marks. "Those by themselves don't mean anything."

The bulldog quickly replied. "Let's keep looking, then." The two male pups split up again and returned to their piles. Everest, on the other hand, came over to assist Chase.

"Oh, hi, Everest." Said Chase, as his eyes glanced at the Husky. "You came to help?"

The husky gave a small smile and nodded. They spent silent for a couple moments before continuing the task of removing the ashes from the pile. As their paws moved inside the pile to push the powder outside of the pile, the dust clouds quickly formed in front of them, causing Chase to sneeze. The Husky couldn't help bug giggle, a reaction the Shepherd would respond with an almost invisible blush on his cheeks.

"Say, Chase..." Everest broke the silence. "What do you think about this?"

The male dog simply twisted his head in confusion, still digging, without moving his head or his eyes. "What do you mean by 'this'?"

"Trying to escape from a deathly situation... Putting us to test and solve puzzles... Do you think we're being... Trained? Or maybe even selected..."

"I don't understand you. Why would Y train us? Or select us?"

"This is all speculation, but think about this: We have never seen the outside world ever since we last woke up in those cells, right? We don't even know what day is it today."

"Are you saying that Adventure Bay could have been... Destroyed?"

"Not really. I'm just saying that we have no idea what does the world look like from outside... Whatever this place is." Everest stopped for a while. "Have you ever heard of Schrödinger's cat?"

"Nope. I'm allergic to cats." Said Chase, sneezing again while another dust cloud struck his nose.

"It's basically an explanation for how quantum mechanics work. In a preset environment within certain circumstances, something can be in two states at the same time, or in the cat's example, alive or dead."

"How can a cat be alive and dead?" The fact stroke him as rather odd.

"It's quantum mechanics. In a quantic scale, you can't tell for sure how fast a particle moves or where it's located at any given time. There's a lot of room for uncertainty in quantum physics. And this uncertainty can be very small, or incredibly huge."

Chase kept digging, while trying to make the words that Everest just spat have sense.

"You can't know those things until you measure either the position or the velocity of a particle. That means that you will never know, for example, where will a particle end up before you measure its position. But what you know are the areas where it's most likely for the particle to be and where is most unlikely. You know the probabilities."

"So... You know the chances of where a particle ends up?"

"Exactly. And the consequence of measuring particles is that all the possibilities sort of 'collapse' into a single, true possibility. The one you just measured." Everest kept digging. "Going back to the example of the cat, imagine you put a cat in a dangerous box that you will never be able to look inside that, if a particle inside the box does something weird, the box the cat is within implodes. And this would happen within a 50% chance. What would happen?"

"I see now!" Now it was Chase who stopped digging to take deep breath and exhale. "You can't tell what the particle will do, but you know the possibilities. It can be alive or dead... But how does that make the cat both alive AND dead?"

"Well, since you can't get to measure it directly, you... You just deduce that right at that moment, both possibilities are valid. But once you open the box, one of the possibilities gets ruled out, and the remaining one turns valid." As soon as she ended speaking, the pile of ash was completely removed, revealing a small lid. "Looks like we found something. Let's talk later, okay? I kind of don't want to waste more oxygen right now."

* * *

The pups opened the lid, revealing a box with some strange circuitry on the inside. "It looks like some sort of enclosed circuit with logic gates on it" Chase quickly identified the device, and lifted it up from the compartment. Below it, a number [4] was painted in blue. He quickly identified the chips to which the cables were connected, marked with NOT, OR, AND, and XOR letters. To the right side, a column of four LED lights seemed to be the output of the circuit, while the input looked like a battery to the left side of the box. Over the LEDs where also a couple of numbers, written from top to bottom: [8], [4], [2], [1].

Suddenly, a manly voice resonated the room. "Hey pups, I found tons of drawings in here!"

Followed by that, an announcement was made: "Carbon dioxide concentration: 41%", which was almost double compared to when they started.

The couple of pups hurried over to Rubble, who called them over, and noticed the markings on the now uncovered floor.

One of them was some sort of diagram with shapes connected with lines, and ended on four circles. Another one of the scribbles was "BINARY COLORED LIGHTS", written in four colors: Red, yellow, green and blue. The last and smallest of the markings was a red number [5]. Chase quickly memorized it. "We found a blue [4] in my pile. I think it has the same color as the one on this light scribble. But...!"

He then quickly inspected the device he put on the floor upon arriving to Rubble's pile, and opened the case. "That diagram is the solution of this puzzle, I think." The almond brown dog explained that the diagram was a representation of NOT, OR, AND, and XOR logic gates, vital parts in electronic components. He assigned the triangle shaped ones with NOT gates, the ones that looked like a rounded rectangle with AND gates, the ones that looked like some sort of bullet cap with OR gates. The ones that looked like OR gates, but with an extra arc on the left, were the remaining XOR gates.

As he interchanged the logic gates, the lights were changing from ON to OFF, but the colors stayed the same, with four distinguishable colors, from top to bottom: Green, Blue, Red and Yellow. In the end, only the green and blue ones lit up. Suddenly, a seemingly black bar at the side of the device turned on, revealing the following clue:

"GREEN = ON | YELLOW = OFF"

A short beep followed soon after, and the floor where the plaque was first found opened, revealing another box device just like the one with the circuitry.

Behind the glass of the locked box was the item that the pups were looking after: A silver colored keycard. It seemed like it'd slide once the puzzle was completed.

"We have to enter a password." Said Everest upon gazing the display with a seemingly input interface. You could only enter numbers, however.

"Let's see... All this colors and numbers..." Rubble started thinking, but eventually got lost into a trail of thought. "Shit, I'm stuck."

However, Chase's intelligence couldn't be more of use at this point. He quickly deciphered that the colored lights from the circuitry device were showing the order in which the 'colored numbers' should be placed within the equation plaque.

[Green - Blue + Red - Yellow]

Knowing this, he replaced the numbers that they had found with their respective colors that were painted with.

[Green - 4 + 5 - Yellow]

The ones that were missing where Green and Yellow, which were mentioned in the LCD display to the side of the circuitry device. Green was equal to something ON, and Yellow was equal to something OFF.

It was then when something clicked on the German Shepherd's head. The state of the colored lights could be a clue to deciphering the green and yellow numbers. He quickly realized that the numbers beside the colored lights were the binary places of a 4-digit number in base-2 written in base-10.

In a 4-digit of base-10, the fourth place would equal to 1000. The third to 100, and so on and so forth. In base-2, however, the fourth place would equal to 16, the third to 8, the second to 4, and the first to 2.

So, he converted the state of the lights in binary: [1100], which in base-10 (our traditional way of representing numbers), would be [12]. That would be the number in Green. As for the yellow, he picked the opposite state: [0011], and converted it to base-10, which was [3]. He then repeated the formula.

"[12 - 4 + 5 - 3] ..." He muttered. Everest and Rubble were so impressed that he managed to somehow get a clue in just 30 seconds.

"Did you just... Crack the code?" Asked Everest with a somewhat puzzled look. Rubble had his mouth open in shock.

"I think so... Then, this number would be... Ten." He calculated the result of the equation, which was equal to 10. He punched the one and zero buttons, followed by the ENTER button. A high-pitched chirp resonated in his ears, causing the keycard to slide off from a slit hole and be grabbed by the fangs of Rubble. "Gotcha! You're mine!"

"Quickly! Slide it onto the reader!" yelled the Husky in exaltation. But she quickly dropped to the floor "Oomph..."

"Everest! Are you alright!?" Chase approached the female dog, who seemed unconscious, but still awake. "Oh no... Please, you must resist! Breathe slowly and in small bits!"

Her eyes seemed to be dozing off, as the paws started to move numbingly. Her eyebrows and eyelids seemed to be extremely heavy, as they were firmly closed and took her an enormous amount of effort to open them. "Oh... Ch-Chase..."

* * *

"Current carbon dioxide concentration: 97%. Five minutes until oxygen depletion" An emotionless announcer warned that the fresh air was starting to run out.

"Shit! You're going to be okay, Everest. We're going to get out of here!" The pup looked up and gave a somewhat threatening glare to the bulldog. "What are you doing, not stopping the process!?"

The bulldog gave a desperate look. "Please, help me! I can't crack this password..."

Chase ran to Rubble. He first glanced the card reader with a green light on. Then, he proceeded to look up, and noticed that a new panel that was hidden by a metal indentation was revealed. It displayed: "Start with 423. Add from the left, subtract from the right. The final string is the code."

Finally, he glared at the bulldog, stuck in a ball position, wailing about. "Please... I'm... I'm..." Subsequently, he fell to the floor as well.

"No! Rubble!" Chase tried to pick him up and raise him from the floor, but he couldn't stand very well, and fell again. "Chase... Crack the code... And get us... Outta here..." Afterwards, he quickly passed out.

Chase's respiratory capacity was strong enough to continue moving around for a couple minutes, but he doubted that he could bring both unconscious pups outside once the door gets to open... Despite that, he faced the display and read carefully the lines once again.

They say that when in a crisis, the brain's processing power speeds up, making time feel slower. A second may seem like forever in these cases. That's exactly what happened with Chase at that moment. For some reason, he remembered something that he didn't know he heard about. It seemed like a flash. A flashback... Or maybe a flashforward?

 _"You know, numbers can also be characters, too."_

He then realized. The numbers 12, 4, 5 and 3 could also be considered as characters within a string of letters and numbers: '1', '2', '4', '5' and '3'. He wasn't supposed to add or subtract from that number, he was supposed to add or remove characters from a string of numbers!

And so, he started adding and subtracting numbers in order, and in the direction the numbers told him. Left meant "the beginning", and right meant "the end" of the string of numbers, respectively.

423... Add '12' to the beginning.  
12423... Find and remove '4', starting from the end.  
1223... Add '5' to the beginning...  
51223... Find and remove '3', starting from the end.  
The resulting number was 5122!

He punched the numbers in the order of [five], [one], [two] and [two], and pressed ENTER.

As the door they came in started the opening sequence, Chase fell to the floor along with the others. His vision started to blur. He felt that there was no more 'fresh air' to breathe. The announcer confirmed this, indicating that the concentration of carbon dioxide reached 100%.

Chase was now breathing the carbon dioxide he was expelling during respiration, and the one expelled from the seemingly unknown incinerator above them. He wasn't breathing oxygen anymore.

He would have to keep conscious while the door remained closed, or else his brain would be heavily damaged by the lack of oxygen and potentially die alongside their partners. While he was crashed onto the floor, he managed to look at the other two partners. He saw that they were breathing, but very slowly. It seemed like their vital functions were starting to cease functioning correctly.

He closed his eyes, hoping that in the next seconds that seemed like forever, the door would open quickly with fresh air to breathe... He couldn't get his strength back to carry the others over the safe place unless he got to take a bunch of that breathable air. His cheeks inflated while he tried to contain his breath for a while to avoid being poisoned by carbon dioxide.

He hoped that fortune would smile at him and open the door in time so that he and their partners would be able to escape safe and sound...

"Why is the door not opening yet!?" That was his last thought until he fell completely unconscious. He wasn't even aware if the door got to open or not.

 **Did it open in time...? Or was it already late?**

* * *

 **STATUS  
** (According to Team C's perspective)

 **Team M:  
** Marshall (?), Skye (?), Tracker (?)

 **Team R:  
** Rocky (?), Zuma (?), Robo (?)

 **Team C:  
** Chase (RISKY), Rubble (RISKY), Everest (RISKY)

* * *

Author's closing note:

Sorry, but in this fic you won't be able to make any choices. But "maybe" in the future, I'll let you choose. Just... Maybe.

I also may spend some time drawing some images of the pups during their misadventures.


	4. Return to Earth

Author's Note:

Alright, time for another group chapter! All parts will be updated simultaneously.

 **I've created a forum for those who are interested in discussing or adding theories, as well as for adding pictures that I've drawn myself :3  
** For the images, please refer to the corresponding "Team C Pictures" thread in the forum.

To compensate the length of the previous chapter of Team C, I'm making this one a little bit longer with an added extra: An explanation of the Prisoner's Dilemma.

* * *

 **[M/R/C] RETURN TO EARTH [4]**

Chase had no idea how much time has passed. It could have been minutes, maybe hours, or maybe even an eternity.

But it didn't seem like and endless sleep. Suddenly his eyes opened, revealing himself laying on the floor, in front of a door frame, and a hallway right behind it.

The door opened in time for them to provide the dogs fresh oxygen. " _We... We made it!_ ", he thought. His vision was foggy, blurry, and it felt like if everything was somehow liquid. The walls were flowing and distorting, and the floor seemed to change shape every now and then. As he struggled to look around, he gazed their partners. They seemed to be still knocked out.

The Shepherd tried to fully wake up, but while trying to stand up, his messed-up balance sense caused him to fall back to the floor all the times he had tried.

With the passing minutes, the pup started recovering the strength on his paws, although he wasn't fully recovered mentally. Trying his best to stand, he approached to the husky, and landed on top of her. He whispered to her ear. "Hey, Everest. Wake up... We made it."

The Husky didn't respond. She seemed to be knocked out, and it'd take some time for her to recover. Despite that, he tried waking her up again, and again.

The ears of Chase perked up when he listened something. It seemed like a masculine voice, but played in fast forward. He turned around at the direction of the sound and he spotted a bulldog trying to stand up. "Rubble...?"`

Chase instructed Rubble not to move harshly, as their brains had to recover from the scarcity of fresh air. And so, they waited, taking deep breaths and aspirating as much oxygen as they could.

After half an hour, Chase's brain capabilities started to run fully operational. He was able to stand up, his vision was very clear, had no dizzy sensations, and he could hear Rubble loud and clear. The latter would take a short time to fully recover, but the bulldog was already ready to move on.

"Let's bring Everest with us. She'll probably be better out of this place" Recommended Chase to Rubble. Since he got so much strength to push on his body, he faced the rear side of Everest with his muzzle and started pushing her outside the chamber they were in.

Everest noticed the movement, and started waking up. She stood up just fine, and gave out a loud yawn. "...Morning, guys. I guess I could say good morning..."

"You were sleeping?" Asked Chase out of curiosity. "I thought you were knocked out by the gas..."

"I was... At least, until I heard your voice. I had no energy to stand up, so I thought I could use a short nap to recharge my batteries."

"Guys, we hafta move. Now that we got this keycard!" Rubble cut the chase, showcasing the card he got trapped on his muzzle. "Remember that door with a card reader?"

"Right, that keycard must open it! Let's go!"

The puppies quickly retraced back their steps, going back through the meandering hallways full of pipes slithering around them. They eventually reached the rusty door with a glass window, a plaque reading out "SECTION B", and a card reader to its side.

Since he was so little to reach out by simply raising his front paws, Rubble jumped a couple times, trying to reach out the card reader. After the fourth try, he dropped the keycard.

Chase took the chance to take the card. "I'll take care of this", and jumped in a more precise angle, just high enough to reach out the card reader. However, it took a couple tries for him to slide the card on the reader.

The reader accepted the card, and the door automatically opened, revealing a hallway that was previously inaccessible. The trio gave themselves a group high-five before resuming their exploration. But Everest called them out.

"Guys, wait. Aren't you curious how are the rest?" She said as she pressed one of the buttons at the side of her bracelet. She had her eyes closed for a couple seconds, but after opening them, she glared the "NO CASUALTIES" message. " _Phew, they were all alive, for now..._ " She thought. The other pups got closer to her and spied at the watch device, smiling after realizing that nobody had died yet.

Team C eventually resumed their search. After trotting up some stairs, they stumbled across an intersection. To their left, there was a metal door with the plaque "Boiler Room", which was open. To their right, there was a hallway with a window on the right wall. Behind it was another meandering hallway, but had no seemingly visible doors. The hallway they were at seemed to continue way ahead. Chase and Everest decided to examine this hallway, while Rubble would search the remaining one.

Now they were both alone. It was the perfect timing for returning to that conversation. "Uh... Remember what you said about that Shroomer's cat?"

The lavender husky jiggled. "It's Schrödinger's cat, Chase."

"So... How do you relate that cat's problem about being dead or alive with the world outside this place?"

"Well, that's simple to explain, actually." Everest thought it'd be so easy to explain that she even bothered to stop and explain to him. "Imagine we're the scientists observing the cat's box. And the entire world outside this facility is the cat's box. We have no idea what the world looks like right now. It may be the world we used to know... But it can be different."

Chase stopped with her and kept questioning. "How can our world change with us inside this place?"

"Well, in a physical sense, it doesn't make much sense to set the analogy, but we could say that the world right now is in a state of superposition between many different possible outcomes. It could have been destroyed by nuclear warfare, bioweapons, a horrible virus, a meteor strike... Even zombie or werewolf apocalypse. It's very unlikely... But after all, they are possibilities. And when we get out, all of those possibilities from that collection will collapse into one, single reality we have to face." As she said that, she continued moving on. "Let's keep going, Chase!"

"So that's what you meant by us being 'trained'. If the world has fallen into an apocalypse, they are putting us to test to face the new world, in this shelter...?"

She nodded. "But then again, the evidence only changes the expected probabilities of something to happen. It doesn't produce that collapse of possibilities."

Chase gave out a nervous smile. At last, they reached the end of the hallway. As expected, they saw a door. It had no plate on it, and it couldn't be open. But they didn't expect finding something very peculiar.

A DUD was placed somewhere close to the end of the hallway. What could that mean?

"Let's not dive into discussions yet. We have to report what we saw to Rubble." Said Everest, to which the Shepherd agreed.

They rushed to get back to the hallway, where they met up with the beefy dog. "Hey guys, what did you find?"

"Well... We found a door, but it was locked up tight." Reported Chase.

"The strangest thing is that we've found a DUD close to it."

"What!? But we haven't entered any door besides Door [0]!" Replied Rubble. He sat down in confusion.

"My best guess is that the door at the end of that long hallway _is_ a Numbered Door. We just happen to be on the other side of it..." Deduced the German Shepherd.

"Then how can we open it?" asked Rubble, which got a quickly reply from Chase: "We can't. Someone else has to open it from the other side, then unlock it again with the DUD."

"Anyway. What have you found, Rubble?"

"The hallway wasn't as short as yours, but I found a couple of doors. One said 'Control Room', and the other one didn't have a label on it. Neither of those could be unlocked, so I went back and searched the boiler room."

He described the room in deep detail: It was a very hot, noisy and tight-packed room, with tons of pipes, advanced machinery that looked like coal boilers of some sort, with gauges that read out pressure and temperature, and a small computer with a touchscreen. When he touched it, the screen went completely white. Apart from that, he didn't find anything particularly interesting, other than the wooden chair and table weren't very comfy and burnt up notes that he couldn't read at all.

Since they had nowhere to go other than the boiler room, they decided to step in and check the room for themselves. It was just like he described it. To their direct left was the chair and desk, three coal boilers, and a network of pipes that seemed to connect to other rooms.

* * *

Upon stepping into the room, the screen on the computer turned off, and after a second, a sinister figure appeared on the monitor. The figure they wanted the least to see again. The pups quickly approached it.

"It seems the entire team has cleared the emergency incinerator chamber." Y's voice resonated into the pup's ears. "Congratulations on your successful escape. How are you feeling?"

"Do you really need to ask that? Fuck off." Growled Rubble.

"We've got some questions-" Chase's question was interrupted by Y's speech.

"Please, do remember that these are pre-recorded footage. I will not be able to provide you answers to your questions. With that clear, I must say that this is not the outcome I expected. Remember that the X Door will not open unless six of you die." The trio stayed silent, as they continue hearing Y's explanation. "You must be dying to know whatever happened to the other pups. So, I will provide you a light to that question."

A noisy static footage suddenly appeared on the screen, and after a while, a camera feed was being displayed. The heads-up display showed the location of the video camera on the facility: "SECTION D / -45 meters / Sewers". Three pups were in the shot. They looked like a chocolate Labrador, an artificial looking puppy, and a dog whose breed was hard to identify.

"I'll grab two of these! I might be able to light this up..." Said the mix-breed dog on frame, grabbing some rubble stones and approaching what it looked like a coil fuse. A small spark caused by the contact of the stones lit the fuse, and the frozen pipe that was right above it started melting.

An announcer's voice cued a few seconds later: "Gas current has reached sufficient temperature. Incineration process will begin now according to the protocol."

The three pups were very confused about what did they meant with the incinerator. However, their answers would be provided very soon.

The footage transitioned to another static noisy image, followed by a completely different video feed. The HUD displayed: "SECTION A / -30 meters / Incinerator". There were two rooms. The rightmost room looked like an incineration chamber, in which a female Cockapoo was trapped in. On the other side of the room, a male Chihuahua was seated, or rather, restrained within a strange chair. Close to him was another male Dalmatian, holding with his front paws a weapon. The Shepherd quickly identified the firearm as a Smith & Wesson Model 22, although it was slightly modified. Perhaps it's a new model? Smith & Wesson Model 23? That number _really_ started to stick up on Chase's head.

"Pull the trigger, and the door to the incinerator... Will automatically open and halt the incineration process the moment it detects the sound of the revolver's discharge." A distorted announcement echoed the room in the footage.

A gunshot flash, followed by a large explosion sound cued right after. Suddenly, another static clip cut the footage happened. The trio were shocked: Marshall had shot Tracker!

The video footage didn't end there, as another clip was displayed with the HUD "SECTION A / -45 meters / EDC ". This time, it was a cylindrical shaped room, with various piles of black dust, and three dogs that looked familiar to them: It was them, just some moments ago.

The female announcement voice from before cued once again: "Incineration process has been terminated. The exhaustion valves will open now."

Rubble couldn't be more surprised, and confused, at the same time. "What?" Chase had a very bad feeling.

The video footage made another static cut for about half a second, and displayed the same room, only a few moments later. The trio were knocked out, close to the door that was opening besides them. The door seemed to have opened seconds after Chase fell unconscious. The clip made a final noisy transition before showcasing once again the scary figure of Y.

"As you can see, your actions have endangered the lives of others." Said Y in a lower tone. "So, I will give you a chance to bring justice to those who have tried to kill you. Whether if they have succeeded, or not."

"But why...?" Asked Everest, still shocked. "Why would they do such a thing?"

The screen switched to a window displaying two options. The upper one displayed "Team M", while the lower one displayed "Team R".

"The team names of your newfound enemies should be displayed on the touchscreen monitor." Explained Y. "Choose the team you've decided to... Eliminate. Each team gets one vote. The leader must submit it for the group. You have 23 minutes to send the vote; any team that hasn't voted before the time limit is up shall be penalized two votes. The group with two or more votes will lose, which means that every member of that team... Will be penalized with the injection." The sinister person reiterated the situation by mentioning the following: "Of course, if a pup who is already dead is penalized, the injection will be pointless."

Nobody said anything, as every pup were either completely submerged in a moral dilemma, or shocked by the feeling that they had to try and kill somebody. "Without further ado, let us begin."

 **Image 1. Killing Vote**

* * *

"What should we do?" The bulldog had to ask.

Chase moved from side to side of the room, pondering what would the others vote. He thought he would be able to ascertain this thanks to the video footage, even though they had no means of communication from one another. "Should we consider that Team M is going to vote for Team R?"

"What makes you think Team M is going to do that?" The Husky questioned his reasoning.

"Well, it was them who drove them into the incinerator starting up, right? It'd be logical for them to say that they were the ones who killed Tracker, even if they hadn't done anything directly."

"We could say the same for Team M making us have to search for that freakin' keycard." The beefy dog growled.

"True... But then again, we could also say they almost killed all of us." Responded Everest. "Voting for the guilty one won't do anything."

"But you've seen Marshall shooting Tracker! There's no point in denying that!" It seemed like Rubble was trying to heat up the discussion a bit more.

"...Maybe they had no choice. I mean, if they wanted to spare Skye's life..."

"Over Tracker? My ass is going to buy that!"

The two pups suddenly started quarreling about how dirty was the bulldog's language, but Chase got a chance to interrupt their talking. "What if they had been forced to play Russian Roulette?"

"Huh?" Both pups said in unison while tilting their heads.

"Russian Roulette. You put a certain number of bullets in the cylinder of any kind of revolver, spin it, aim at yourself, and shoot. If nothing is shot, you live. If a bullet is shot, however, you die."

"What kind of game is that...?" Rubble was getting more shocked by the minutes.

Chase simply shrugged, but continued speaking. "Maybe they were forced to play that game to save Skye. Which means that they could have had a chance to save both pups!"

Could have had? That didn't sound good to Everest. "Wait, you mean he's...?"

"Alive? No. Tracker's pretty much dead. You heard the banging sound."

"...Fuck..." Uttered the bulldog, punching the floor. "But... What about the bracelets?"

Why didn't they think it sooner? If Tracker had died, that would've meant an X-Pawss would have been revealed. The German Shepherd quickly looked at his wristband clock device and pressed the button on its right side. But they weren't responding.

The display showed a time tag, which was little by little counting down. A countdown. "Damn, it's stuck with this... Countdown. It must be the deadline to vote." The clock displayed 20 minutes and 3 seconds remained.

"...It's obvious which team should we vote for..." Said Rubble. "Team R, right?"

"What? No! We're voting for Team M! Right, Chase?"

"Uhm... Hold on for a second." The police suited dog wanted to have some moments to think. "Let's consider Team R's situation. They will most likely think that Team M is going to vote 'Team R'. The problem is that we have no idea who to vote with. We have four possible outcomes out of this."

 _Outcome A:  
Team R votes for Team C.  
If we vote Team R, Team R will be executed._

 _Outcome B:  
Team R votes for Team C.  
If we vote Team M, nobody will be executed._

 _Outcome C:  
Team R votes for Team M.  
If we vote Team R, Team R will be executed._

 _Outcome D:  
Team R votes for Team M.  
If we vote Team M, Team M will be executed._

"For them, it really doesn't matter who they vote. They have 50% chances of making this voting through alive. It's the same for us. As long as Team M doesn't vote for us, we are going to make it through the voting." Pointed out Everest.

"Exactly. There's no use in thinking about themselves. It depends on their purpose: Are they willing to kill Team M?"

The trio pondered this question. Rubble thought that even though it was fine to try and spare Team R, they tried to kill Team M, and The Game would never end if everybody else kept surviving, he would never escape.

Everest, on the other hand, wished for a way out with all nine pups alive, so she was expecting to go for Outcome B. She thought that as well as Team M, Team R had no choice but to put the lives of others in danger.

Chase knew both perspectives, and that they both seemed perfectly valid. "This is just like the Prisoner's Dilemma."

When he mentioned that, Rubble gave out a confused look once more, almost like he was being called out by what he just said. Everest opened her muzzle in surprise. "Do you know about it, Chase?"

The café Shepherd gave out a nod. Rubble was even more confused. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you guys talking about?"

"It's an analogy for a type of game. Not a game like the ones we use to play, but a game in a mathematical sense. It also has other purposes... The story often goes like this..."

 _Two members of a terrorist organization have been arrested for a minor crime and put into two separate cells, with no means of communication between them. Let's call the prisoner's Alpha and Omega. Both have been sentenced 2 years for the crime.  
The police have received some intel about the two of them having a relationship with a major crime, but they don't have enough evidence to convict them._

 _One day, the detective who's working on the case shows up on both cells, and tells them the following offer:  
If you spill the beans and tell us about the relationship of your partner with this big crime, we'll reduce your stay here by 12 months, so you'll spend here just one year. But your partner will stay here four years.  
Of course, this is only if they don't confess._

 _If your partner confesses, and you don't say anything, we'll double your stay, and you'll get 4 years of your life to spend on jail. Also, your partner will be pardoned 1 year._

 _If you both spill the beans, we'll think you're messing with us, and we'll add 1 year of stay to both of you, so each of you spend 3 years._

 _And of course, if both of you don't say anything at all, everything will stay the same._

"Now, try to stick onto Alpha or Omega's fur." Explained Chase. "What would you do?"

Rubble thought about it for a while. "Well... If I were Alpha, and Omega is going to keep his muzzle quiet, then I'd definitely spill the beans... But what if he confesses, too...? Spilling the beans seems like the best option, either way. Because if I didn't, I'd get to spend 4 years... By talking I can shave one year off that."

Chase put her paw on her jaw. "Interesting. But you're forgetting something important: Omega is going to think the same way. He'd spill the beans, and you'll serve three years in prison each."

Everest continued her explanation: "The most logical choice is the one that leads to the worst desirable outcome for the common benefit. In other words, if you cooperate with each other, you'll spend a total amount of 4 years. If someone of you acts of their own self-interest, the grouped amount is 5 years. And if both of you do, the combined time you'll spend on jail is 6 years. Also, you're risking yourself for shaving off one year if you try to betray your partner. That's why it's a dilemma, because your mind will be split in two when trying to decide one."

The Shepherd continued as if they were in sync: "Back into The Game... We have two options. Either we trust Team R, and vote for Team M, or betray them and vote for Team R. Of course, this considers that Team M is voting for Team R." He grabbed the marker and draw a table containing all the possibilities.

 _Team C / Team R | Vote for M (trust) | Vote for C (betray)_  
 _Vote for M (trust) | None executed | C and R kill M_  
 _Vote for R (betray) | C and M kill R | C and M kill R, R tries to kill C_

"See? It's pretty much the same. If we trust each other, nobody will be executed. If they betrayed us, however, we'd end up killing Team M. If we betray Team R, we'll kill Team R. And if we both betrayed each other, not only we'll kill them, but also we'd end up tagged by Team M as pups who tried to murder Team R, even if we end up being alive."

"It really is a dilemma..." Said Rubble. "Then... What should we choose?"

Everest planted her proposal of trusting Team R and vote for Team M, since that way there could be a chance of nobody getting executed. Rubble made another counterargument explaining that you'd never know when you'll encounter a door with a number larger than [0]. If it does and nobody has died by then, they'd be stuck.

The Husky then pointed out that there could be another test before the next numbered door, in which the death of one or maybe could be guaranteed. It sounded somewhat morbid to both Chase and Rubble, but Everest retaliated by explaining that Y would have prepared The Game in such a way so that we'd able to open at least one door after each one of those wicked tests.

When it seemed like the debate was going to turn into a fight by Rubble's action, Chase asked for them to stop.

"Guys, please! Seriously, we all have to calm down. I've already made up my mind."

Both pups were shocked after hearing the last line, and shut up. After a few seconds, Everest stopped Chase from touching the screen. "Aren't you going to say who are you going to vote for?"

"Nope!" The cappuccino dog turned sideways, and as his front paw reached the touchscreen, he requested for their assistance. "So please, close your eyes." There was silence. "C'mon, guys. I said I won't be telling you so that you don't argue about what I pick. Sooo, close your eyes."

Both sighed out of frustration, and firmly closed their eyes. As Chase was glaring at them to make sure they were closing their eyes, he carefully placed his paw on the "Team M" button. When he heard the sound, he quickly turned his eyes to the screen. But it was too late for him to check if he picked the option he wanted. Although he thought he picked it. The screen displayed something different this time.

 _Your vote has been recorded.  
Thank you for your participation.  
A reward will be dispensed after the results of the voting.  
Results will be automatically displayed 24 seconds after everyone has voted._

"Alright. We should be waiting for the rest now..." Said Chase. "By the way, I don't have any idea what I picked."

The bulldog and the Husky roared in surprise. "What the fuck, Chase!?" Uttered the manly dog.

Chase simply jiggled. "Just joking. I think I got my vote right."

"You better do, Chase..."

* * *

 **STATUS  
** (According to Team C's perspective)

 **Team M:  
** Marshall (ALIVE), Skye (ALIVE), Tracker (DEAD)

 **Team R:  
** Rocky (ALIVE?), Zuma (ALIVE?), Robo (ALIVE?)

 **Team C:  
** Chase (ALIVE), Rubble (ALIVE), Everest (ALIVE)

Author's Closing Note:

David, thanks for pointing out the typo of Skye being a cockapoo and not a cockatiel!  
I really appreciate reviews like this one.


End file.
